News

Magnus Cort navigates to sixth place on a technical finish at the Tour de Suisse

Tue 14 Jun 2016

Danish rider Magnus Cort used his technically ability today to sprint to sixth place on stage four of the WorldTour race, Tour de Suisse.

The day was once again animated by an early breakaway, with the peloton leaving it late to swallow the escapees up in the final three kilometres, just in time for a technical sprint finish with a tight corner 150metres to go.

Etixx-Quickstep took the lead around the bend and went on to seal the top two spots on the podium as Cort held on for sixth place for ORICA-GreenEDGE, two seconds behind the race winner Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx-Quickstep).

"It was a pretty eventless day until the final," said sport director Neil Stephens. "A break of four went up the road, the boys were able to just sit in the bunch all the way and wait until the final."

"Tinkoff and Etixx-Quickstep did a great job of bringing the break back and we placed ourselves in the second line getting ready for the sprint and the guys made sure they were well positioned.

"It was a pretty dangerous circuit, there was a lot of turns, a lot of roundabouts and traffic islands, so position was really crucial. We had to spend a lot of energy to make sure we didn't lose position.

"It was good the boys went out there and committed to try and give Magnus a good chance at a result today which was fantastic.

"The guys themselves chose to ride for Magnus today and he did well. Maybe he could have finished a position or two better as the guy in front nearly crashed on the corner but anyway it was still a good result."

How it happened:

Another stage, another day of rain for the riders in Switzerland. Similar to the previous two stages, an early breakaway formed and within the first 20kilometres four riders led the race, working together to gain a four-minute advantage.

The peloton were subdued due to strong headwinds and within the first hour hour of the stage they'd only covered 30kilometres.

The pace and escapees advantage remained much the same for most of the day until the current race leaders, Team Tinkoff, took up position at the head of the bunch and started to gradually reel in the escapees.

At 50kilometres to go the four leader's advantage had reduced down to just two minutes despite a steady pace for much of the stage.

The main sprint teams began heading to the fore to prepare for the final, with it being one of the few remaining sprint stage left in the tour. With 20kilometres remaining the breakaway was down to three riders who still maintained a one minute 45second advantage.

It was looking like touch and go whether or not the escapees would stay away with the bunch very slowly gaining time back as the road began to run out.

It came down to the final three kilometres when the pace really lifted with ORICA-GreenEDGE, Etixx-Quickstep and Tinkoff dominating the front of the bunch.

A nasty tight corner with just 150metres to go proved to be dangerous but also very important for the sprinters.

Richeze entered the corner first with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) on his wheel and remained in front until the line, with Cort safely around the bend in sixth place to finish in that position on the stage.

Tomorrow the race heads into more mountainous terrain with the general classification still fairly close together.